Saturday, March 26, 2005

Afghans seethe over child kidnapping scourge

KANDAHAR (Reuters) - The Afghan teenager's headless body was found in the desert outside Kandahar on a cold morning in early March.

His name was Naqibullah and he was 13, the latest known victim of a spate of child kidnapping that has stirred fear and anger in Afghanistan.

Interior Ministry spokesman Lutfullah Mashal said 150 children had been abducted in the past year, although he reckoned 100 had been rescued and as many kidnappers caught. Police believe many cases go unreported.

People fear their children are being trafficked abroad to supply paedophiles or for body parts for transplant surgery, or to be sold as slaves.

Sometimes children are stolen as part of a family feud, or for ransom, or for sexual abuse by their abductors.

My track links: Feminist Majority Leads Campaign to Stop Gender Apartheid in Afghanistan, 1998 and Feminists and "Comfortability"

No comments: